Sustainable Use of Waste From Grease Traps

Where does all the grease go when its pumped out of  a trap ? some surprising answers in the report here put together for the Sustainable Energy Authority of Victoria. They suggest a figure between between 3,000 and 8,000 tonnes of waste are produced across Victoria but I suspect that the estimate may be light. As an example in testing with a Grease Guardian automatic grease removal unit we have removed on an annual basis 4 tonne from a single location bulk cooking chickens. The trouble is so many small businesses are not trapped at all so there is no way of telling what they are generating and furthermore many simply do not have the space to install a traditional trapeven if they want to do the right thing. There are of course solutions in this case.

What is also very interesting is that a lot of what can be removed from a grease trap is not really that useful as it can be contaminated with caustic chemicals (making it a prescribed waste) and even petroleum products if the removal company also pumps out interceptors at service stations. Funnily enough if you render the tallow from grease trap waste it is not prescribed so can be handled more easily. Sadly though this means much of it is destined for landfill where it contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and reduction of useable open spaces to boot.

Overseas they are moving away from passive grease traps due to these sorts of issues and the fact that they are generally rather smelly when being cleaned out. We recently told about a top hotel in Paris where the guests complained for days afterward ! Needless to say the grease trap has been decommissioned and a Grease Gauardian installed. Even better they are are now sending 2,200 litres of grease a year to be made into biofuels as the grease is skimmed off directly and can be collected for recycling. And to top it off they receive a 4,000 euro contribution from the French government for  switching. Of course in Europe they moved to diesel cars long before we did here in Australia and thus have a bigger biodiesel market. (Having said that there are three biofuels producers here in Victoria alone.)

The challenge is of course marrying the various local/state or even federal government targets for trade waste, greenhouse gas emissions, and sustainability whilst negotiating the multiplicity of regulations across the same. Lets hope as landfill gets squeezed, the cost of a barrel of oil remains so high and the cost to trasnport prescribed waste gets higher that the lights go on for increased recycling.

What do you do with your waste oil ?